For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, Every shipmaster - Captains of vessels; some think pilots are meant, and this is most likely to be the meaning of the original word κυβερνητης. This description appears to be at least partly taken from Ezekiel 27:26-28.
And all the company in ships - Και πας επι των πλοιων ὁ ὁμιλος· The crowd or passengers aboard. But the best MSS, and versions have και πας ὁ επι τοπον πλεων, those who sail from place to place, or such as stop at particular places on the coast, without performing the whole voyage. This sufficiently marks the traffic on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Some might debark (in sailing from Rome) at the island of Sicily, others at different ports in Greece; some at Corinth, others at Crete, or the various islands of the Aegean Sea; some at Rhodes, Pamphylia, etc., etc.; as in those times in which the compass was unknown, every voyage was performed coastwise, always keeping, if possible, within sight of the land.